Phones Seized, Bank Accounts Probed — Pakistan Cricket Has Crossed Into Spy-Thriller Territory

On Thursday afternoon, two of Pakistan's most recognisable cricketers — former Test wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq — walked into the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency's office in Johar Town, Lahore. They weren't filing a complaint. They were the subjects of one.

For approximately two hours, NCCIA investigators questioned them about alleged leaks from Pakistan's dressing room during the England Test tour, their contacts and movements during practice sessions and match days, and — here's where the story takes a darker turn — their financial transactions before and during the series. Their phones were confiscated for forensic examination. Bank account details are under review.

This is not a slap on the wrist. This is not an internal disciplinary hearing over a fitness dispute. This is a state cybercrime agency, forensically examining the phone data and banking records of two current Pakistan internationals. The PCB confirmed it's the first time in its history that the board has filed such a complaint against its own players.

Rewind to August. Pakistan lost the first Test at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs. Then they lost the second Test at Lord's by 194 runs. The collapse was total — in cricketing terms and organisationally. The PCB's response was nuclear: seven players sent home, head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed fired, bowling coach Umar Gul released, and five uncapped players flown out as replacements.

The players axed: Rizwan, Imam, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Owais Zafar, and Khurram Shahzad. Two of them — Rizwan and Imam — are now sitting in front of cybercrime investigators. A third, Imam, is already facing a separate PCB investigation for allegedly faking a calf injury at Lord's to avoid batting, with a potential two-year ban hanging over him.

The official PCB line is that the NCCIA complaint concerns "dressing-room leaks" — team information appearing in the media during the England series. That alone would be serious enough. Dressing-room leaks undermine team strategy, erode trust, and suggest a squad so fractured that someone inside it is actively briefing journalists against their own teammates.

But the investigation has gone beyond leaked WhatsApp messages. Multiple sources, including Geo News and ProPakistani, report that the NCCIA is examining financial matters and suspected transactions. Bank account details and transfers made before and during the Test series are being reviewed. If suspicious transactions are identified, investigators will trace the source of funds and determine where money was transferred. Payments allegedly made by any company, individual, or organisation are also being scrutinised.

This is where the story gets uncomfortable. Nobody has used the words 'match-fixing.' Nobody has made a formal accusation. But when a cybercrime agency is examining a cricketer's bank records during a series that featured a team being bowled out for 133 and losing by an innings, the questions ask themselves.

Running alongside the NCCIA probe is the PCB's own internal disciplinary inquiry, confirmed on September 7. This inquiry covers "media reports concerning player discipline and conduct" — a sweeping mandate that could encompass everything from the leaked dressing-room information to Imam's alleged fake injury to the broader dysfunction that produced two historic defeats.

And there's a third front: the PCB has also sought a written explanation from a member of its own selection committee about why Rizwan and Imam were picked for the England tour in the first place, given their recent form. The selector participated in a June 2 meeting. The implication is that the selection itself is now under review — not for cricketing reasons, but for governance ones.

Three separate investigations. Two of Pakistan's most-capped players. One cybercrime agency. This is not a situation that resolves with a fine and a press conference.

The most unsettling aspect of this story is where Rizwan sits in it. This is the man who scored a century at the MCG in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final while battling a chest infection so severe he was hospitalised the night before. He averages 43.87 in T20Is — the highest by any player with 50+ innings. His commitment to Pakistan cricket has never been questioned by anyone who has watched him play.

And yet here he is, in a Lahore cybercrime office, phone confiscated, bank records under review. Either the PCB knows something deeply concerning that the public doesn't, or they have taken a nuclear option against a player whose work ethic borders on the pathological. Neither scenario reflects well on anyone.

Both players have been given questionnaires to complete and have requested more time to respond. Their phones remain with the NCCIA. The PCB's internal inquiry is running in parallel. And the 3rd Test at Edgbaston continues without either of them — Pakistan's rebuilt squad, featuring three debutants including the extraordinary Razaullah, is chasing a consolation result that would at least end the summer on a note other than total humiliation.

The contrast couldn't be starker. At Edgbaston, a 21-year-old debutant who wasn't even on the original squad list hit nine sixes — equalling Tim Southee's all-time Test debut record — and single-handedly gave Pakistan a fighting total. In Lahore, two senior players who were supposed to be the backbone of Pakistan's batting are explaining their phone records to investigators.

Pakistan cricket has always had a flair for the dramatic. Talent has never been the issue. But there's a difference between a team that dramatises its cricket and a team that can't keep its crises out of law-enforcement offices. The investigation may prove nothing. It may prove everything. Either way, the fact that it exists at all tells you where Pakistan cricket stands in September 2026: somewhere between a dressing room and a crime scene.